MAKING THE FIRST CUTS:
It’s now been 6 months since DC Comics did the relaunch of the all New 52 comics, they’ve reached issue number 6 with the titles so far and getting ready to hit the #7 issues, but starting in May 2012 there will be 6 titles no longer in the New 52 and replaced with 6 new titles keeping the New 52 at 52. Is it any surprise though because the 6 that are being canceled not ones that I thought had enough interest in them to garner their own titles to begin with. The 6 titles getting replaced are Men of War, Mister Terrific, O.M.A.C., Hawk and Dove, Blackhawks and Static Shock.
Alright so out of these 6 titles the only ones I’m a little surprised that are getting cut are Mister Terrific and Hawk & Dove. These 2 titles, though I didn’t buy them myself, I almost did, I had both in my hands a few times between the time issues #1-#3 came out and if I didn’t have such a steep price tag with my weekly titles I would have bought them, however, the characters are cool and have interesting aspects to them. Mister Terrific aka Michael Holt is the third smartest man in the DC Universe, he has 14 Ph.D’s, he’s invisible to all machines, he can pretty much learn near anything within minutes while remembering it, and is a black belt in multiple martial arts, he also looks pretty cool with that mask. This character is cool, he can do a lot of stuff, granted he can’t fly, not bulletproof, or shooting some sort of energy out of his body, he’s still so smart that he could invent something that would allow him to do any of these things.
Hawk & Dove, these 2 have powers given to them two Lords of Chaos and Order, that right there is pretty cool to me in iteself. We’re not talking about Superman who is an alien that only has powers because of his DNA being so different from people of Earth that he gets his powers, Batman trained himself, nor where they born with them or given them by another human, they were given the powers by some higher powers. These characters could have been taken on some really cool mythical stories that could have went back to the beginning of humans walking the planet. Ok, so they don’t have the coolest looking costumes (which is what I think is one problem on why they are not as popular as they could be), but the dagger in them is the stories just don’t have enough punch to them.
As for the other 4 titles that got the chop, they just don’t have what it takes to carry an ongoing title of their own. They are cool characters, I really liked the Static Shock cartoon that came out in 2000 (oddly enough the show ran for 52 episodes) but as far as being a character with his own title he just don’t have enough to carry it. All the characters in these titles make for good supporting characters during a fight, they can carry a story for an issue or maybe a few more but beyond just being the characters that are good for an appearance they just don’t have the power on their own.
Now for the new titles that will be coming out in the “Second Wave”, yep that’s what DC is calling this, the “Second Wave”, making the initial New 52 titles the “First Wave”. Before I get into the new titles let me say that DC calling this the “Second Wave” gives me some doubts about the future of these titles. Calling this the “Second Wave” now opens the doors for a “Third Wave”, then a “Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Wave and so on so on until who knows what Wave will end it” and that right there worries me. This could mean that DC can say that the title was only meant for a 25 issue run, that just because the numbers dropped they are going to end it, maybe they want to cause a shock to the readers and industry by killing another character, or for whatever other reason they want to do it there’s an avenue that’s open for them to use. Sure right now it’s with titles that don’t have the big hitters in it but that don’t mean it’s not possible for a title like Dark Knight, Superman, Green Lantern, or Flash even to be canceled. In fact most of these characters have had an title to be canceled, it’s actually kind of rare for a title to not have been canceled at least once, granted they usually get picked back up again, just look at Amazing Spider-Man. So just because the title has someone like Superman or Batman in it, that don’t mean the title won’t be put on the chopping block and if DC gets the readers used to having titles going through “Waves” then it will be easier to cancel a title with Superman in it that’s reached issue #25 than it is to cancel issue #518.
Speaking of canceling and bring back titles, let me give the new titles.
1) Batman Incorporated – this one I’m looking forward to just because it’s Batman but I’m also not looking forward to it just because it’s another Batman title. There’s already enough out there with Batman, Dark Knight, Batman and Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Batwoman, Batwing, and Catwoman.
2) Earth 2 – this one I’m more excited about because this is going to be about an alternate Earth with the same heroes but only they are not the same. One thing I like about DC Comics is that they really do know how to do good alternate world stories and getting a new title that’s going to be one is very interesting. One thing we love about our heroes is seeing them doing something they normally wouldn’t do for whatever reasons but ultimatly we want them going back to their normal selves. Well in this title we don’t have to worry about if Superman is more like Batman or if the Flash might be a villian, it’s not the main titles so they can do what they want.
3) G.I. Combat – one that I’ve never read but what I know about it is that it’s a war title. Supposed to be more like the real world I think instead of having capes all around.
4) The Ravagers – this is a spin-off of the Teen Titans with another group of super powered teens.
5) Dial H – this one seems like it would be interesting and has a different take on the hero story. It’s going to be about how a normal guy gets super powers (yeah that’s everywhere in comics) but it will focus on the mental aspect of what it does to this new hero.
6) World’s Finest – this is based in the main world but it features the characters the Huntress and Power Girl who are from Earth 2. They will be trying to find ways to get back to their world while stuck in the main one.
Character of the Week #10
Hulk Smash, that’s right the Hulk is this week cool character. This hero/monster has been through a lot over the many years of his comic life. He’s been pretty much every color of the rainbow, the other heroes have sent him into space to get rid of him, he’s fought nearly every hero, villain, alien, monster there is,he's had tv shows, tv made movies, 2 feature films, appearing in the new Avengers feature film, cartoons, and so much more. If there’s only one reason to read the Hulk it would be this, he’s used to show how strong/good someone is in a fight. If it wants to be made clear how strong or someone is in a fight a simple line is used that strikes home, I/he/she survived fighting the Hulk or I/he/she fought the Hulk to a stand still. As skilled as Batman is or as smart and quick as Spiderman is, that saying will not have the same impact as it does with the Hulk. The title has went through some stories and years that it was a little lack luster and boring, but when the Hulk has a good story that title just rocks. Like right now with the whole splitting of identities where now the Hulk and Banner are no longer one and the same while making Banner into this crazed mad scientist that resembles the people he has fought against. Right now is a good time for the Hulk.